Stolen flag spotted in photos of assault

When a Mountlake Terrace mother handed police photos of her teenage daughter being groped, investigators noticed something in the background.

Beyond the image of the 15-year-old girl was a very large, familiar-looking American flag. Investigators say it is the Stars and Stripes they had been searching for: a 15-by-12-foot flag that, until it was stolen in October, had flown 180 feet above the city.

Yesterday, police arrested a 17-year-old Mountlake Terrace High School student they say had been using the city's flag to decorate his bedroom. Police think the boy scaled a 140-foot water tower inside a gated portion of Jack Long Park, yanked the flag off a 40-foot pole atop the tower and had been "using it as a bedsheet and sleeping on it," Sgt. Pete Caw said.

The boy was booked into the Denney Youth Center in Everett on suspicion of burglary. Investigators retrieved the flag yesterday and have cataloged it as evidence to use during the teen's criminal trial, Police Chief Scott Smith said.

While talking to the 15-year-old groping victim last week, police learned that sometime before Oct. 20, the girl, the 17-year-old suspect and two other teens went to the park at 22102 58th Ave. W. The victim said she was drunk and high as she watched the flag being lowered, according to a police report. After stealing the flag, the four walked to the suspect's house, according to the report.

The girl told police the suspect and another boy tried to remove her clothes and have sex with her. Photos were taken of the girl in varying stages of undress and they were later posted on the Internet. Police are investigating the sexual-misconduct allegations, Caw said.

Smith said that when he learned of the flag theft, he feared a terrorist threat to the city's water supply.

"We're actually very relieved and pleased that we apprehended this person," Smith said. "In this day and age, whenever we have someone breaching the water tower, it's a cause of great concern.

"This was no act of terrorism but a kid committing a theft and a vandalism at the site," Smith said. "He didn't do anything that would suggest he would try to tamper with the water system."

Getting to the flag would have been no easy task, said City Public Works Director Larry Waters. He said there is a chain-link fence surrounding the reservoir and "shielding" to keep trespassers from climbing the ladder on the side of the 2.5-million-gallon tower.

"The problem we really had was the thief didn't know what he was doing, and he ended up pulling the flag-hoist cable off," Waters said. "It's a real mess."

He said the city had to spend nearly $400 to hire someone to climb the tower and replace the flag hoist. It cost about $150 to replace the flag.

Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com